Ibrahimovic, Bale, Lewandowski dan Para Bintang yang Gagal ke Brazil
Ibrahimovic, Bale, Lewandowski and the Stars will Miss the 2014 World Cup
Editor : Cahyani Harzi
Translator : Dhelia Gani
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HARAPAN Zlatan Ibrahimovic untuk bersinar di Piala Dunia 2014 pupus setelah Swedia tumbang di tangan Portugal meski penyerang Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) bukanlah satu-satunya pemain bintang yang akan menyaksikan Piala Dunia Brasil dari tribun penonton atau di depan TV.
Duo Polandia yang bermain untuk Borussia Dortmund, Robert Lewandowski dan Lukasz Piszczek juga akan berganti peran menjadi penonton karena Polandia kalah poin dari Inggris dan Ukraina pada fase kualifikasi, seperti dilansir Yahoo News.
Gareth Bale, pemain termahal di dunia setelah ditransfer oleh Real Madrid dari Tottenham, dan Aaron Ramsey, gelandang Arsenal juga gagal bermain di Piala Dunia setelah Wales kalah dari Belgia dan Kroasia.
Setelah lima nama bintang tersebut masih ada Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Armenia/Borussia Dortmund), David Alaba (Austria/Bayern Muenchen), Tomas Rosicky (Rep.Ceko/Arsenal), Petr Cech (Rep.Ceko/Chelsea), Christian Eriksen (Denmark/Tottenham), Daniel Agger (Denmark/Liverpool), Stevan Jovetic (Montenegro/Man. City), Mirko Vucinic (Montenegro/Juventus), Adrian Mutu (Rumania), Branislav Ivanovic (Serbia/Chelsea), Marek Hamsik (Slowakia/Napoli), Samir Handanovic (Slovenia/Inter Milan), Arda Turan (Turki/Galatasaray) dan Andriy Yarmolenko (Ukraina/Dinamo Kiev). Semua pemain ini gagal lolos ke Piala Dunia 2014 Brasil.
Walaupun sebagian besar bintang dari Amerika Selatan lolos ke Piala dunia namun masih ada beberapa nama yang tidak bisa mencicipi Piala Dunia 2014 seperti Oscar Cardozo (Paraguay/Benfica), Jefferson Farfan (Peru/Schalke), Claudio Pizarro (Peru /Bayern Muenchen) dan Juan Arango (Venezuela).
Sementara itu, dari zona Afrika, bintang Senegal, Papiss Cisse dan Demba Ba tidak akan mengikuti di turnamen empat tahunan tersebut setelah dikandaskan Pantai Gading dalam play-off lalu.
Nama-nama lain dari pemain bintang asal Afrika adalah Mohamed Salah Mohamed dan Aboutrika (Mesir), Younes Belhanda dan Mehdi Benatia (Maroko ), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), Youssef Msakni (Tunisia) dan Victor Wanyama (Kenya).
THIS week´s European play-offs saw Sweden star Zlatan Ibrahimovic´s hopes of shining at the 2014 World Cup ended by Portugal, but the Paris Saint-Germain hitman will not be the only superstar who will have to watch next year´s tournament from the stands or in front of the TV.
Borussia Dortmund duo, Robert Lewandowski and Lukasz Piszczek were consigned to a role as spectator as Poland were pipped to top spot in their section by England, with Ukraine finishing ahead of the Euro 2012 co-hosts as well.
Furthermore, Real Madrid ace Gareth Bale - the world´s most expensive player following his summer transfer from Tottenham - and in-form Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey miss out as Belgium and Croatia proved to be too strong in their qualification section.
The aforementioned five are by no means the only high-profile names from Europe to miss out, though, as the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Armenia), David Alaba (Austria), Tomas Rosicky (Czech Republic), Christian Eriksen (Denmark), Stevan Jovetic and Mirko Vucinic (both Montenegro), Adrian Mutu (Romania), Branislav Ivanovic (Serbia), Marek Hamsik (Slovakia), Samir Handanovic (Slovenia), Arda Turan (Turkey) and Andriy Yarmolenko (Ukraine) all failed to qualify for the World Cup as well.
Although the majority of South American stars did qualify, there are still some interesting omissions from next summer, with Oscar Cardozo (Paraguay), Jefferson Farfan, Claudio Pizarro (both Peru) and Juan Arango (Venezuela) perhaps the most noteworthy absentees.
In Africa, meanwhile, Senegal stars Papiss Cisse and Demba Ba will not be at next year´s tournament either after Cote d´Ivoire proved to be too much of an obstacle in the decisive play-off.
Additionally, Egypt´s elimination means the World Cup will be deprived of the exciting talents of Mohamed Salah and Mohamed Aboutrika. Other high-profile absentees from Africa include Younes Belhanda and Mehdi Benatia (both Morocco), Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon), Emmanuel Adebayor (Togo), Youssef Msakni (Tunisia) and Victor Wanyama (Kenya).
